Fireworks!

Remember, remember

The fifth of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot,

I see no reason

Why gunpowder, treason

Should ever be forgot.

(Old English Rhyme)

If you don’t know about the history of Guy Fawkes night that we celebrate each year on the 5th of November, read about it here. It dates back to 1605 and is part of every British kid’s childhood! We celebrate with fireworks and a bonfire and some people still burn an effigy of Guy Fawke (I still remember making a Guy as children, so much fun!)

We have been listening to the fireworks every night for the last few nights, building up to the crescendo of Bonfire Night which is today. Hopefully Cakie will get to see her first little fireworks display tomorrow and hold her very own sparkler too. We did a fun, quick and easy fireworks picture using PVA (runny) glue from a bottle and a few colours of glitter.

I helped her squeeze the glue all over some black card.

She then tipped out a whole tube of glitter over one section of the glue and we shook off the remainder.

She repeated this with a few other colours. The glitter stuck to the glue and the rest went back in a pot.

Then we added some star sequins to make a starry night sky behind the sparkly fireworks. Pretty!

And I have been working on some fireworks song/story props to go with one of our favourite songs “On Bonfire Night.” I learnt this at a SureStart play-group when C was a baby and we have been singing it ever since because it is so much fun and so catchy. Children always love it and request it, plus it is brilliant for ordering, memory, rhythm and beat (all essential for early literacy and maths!)

Rocket

Whizzer

Banger

Fountain

Rip-Rap ( I have no idea what this is! It’s in the song, so I just made up what it looked like!)

Here they are stuck in the order in which we sing them. I hope to find some stiff card or paint a large piece of cardboard black so that we can attach these during the song. This is how it goes:

On Bonfire night at 5 O’Clock

I took my money to the fireworks shop

I bought a rocket and I paid 1 pence

And I put my rocket on the fence

And my rocket went whooooosh!

On Bonfire night……

……..I bought a whizzer and I paid 2 pence

And I put my whizzer on the fence

And my whizzer went whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz

And my rocket went whooooosh!

On Bonfire night…..

…..I bought a banger and I paid three pence

And I put my banger on the fence

And my banger went bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,

And my whizzer went whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz,

And my rocket went whooooosh!

On Bonfire night…..

……..I bought a fountain and I paid four pence

And I put my fountain on the fence

And my fountain went fizz, fizz, fizz, fizz, fizz,

And my banger went bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,

And my whizzer went whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz,

And my rocket went whooooooosh!

On Bonfire night…

…I bought a rip-rap and I paid 5 pence

And I put my rip-rap on the fence

And my rip-rap went rap, rap, rap, rap, rap

And my fountain went fizz, fizz, fizz, fizz, fizz,

And my banger went bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,

And my whizzer went whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz,

And my rocket went whooooooooosssssSH!

I’m not going to sing it on here because that would be too embarrassing, but you could do this with a strong, rhythmic chant, clapping your hands or stamping your foot to keep the beat. We do actions for each firework. The rocket is two hands together, whooshing up to the sky. The fountain is fingers flicking outwards for each “fizz”. The Banger is clapping hands. The rip-rap is one hand tapping up and down the arm. The whizzer is one hand spinning around in circles like a Catherine wheel.